GOLDEN HORSE: Taiwan crime thriller biggest winner of the night

2017/11/26 00:52:57

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Crime thriller "The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful" (血觀音) by Taiwanese director Yang Ya-che (楊雅喆) emerged as the biggest winner at the 54th Golden Horse Awards in Taipei on Saturday, grabbing three awards, including best feature film.

The film was nominated for seven Golden Horse Awards, and ended up claiming three of the biggest ones.

Hong Kong's Kara Wai (惠英紅), who plays a matron, and the Taiwan-born Vicky Chen (文淇), who plays a docile daughter, in the film, also grabbed the best leading actress and supporting actress awards, respectively, with their performances.

"In this era of positive energy, 'The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful' is not a positive film," Yang said in his acceptance speech. "But I think it exposed some darkness, which will make society a better place."

"The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful" revolves around the character Madame Tang, who is the matron of a powerful family.

Tang, played by Wai, colludes between the government and private businesses for the benefits of her family, but one day a land development project that Tang is involved in goes awry and the members of a family close to her all fall victim to a grisly murder.

The night's other big winner was Taiwanese director Huang Hsin-yao's (黃信堯) black-and-white dark comedy "The Great Buddha +" (大佛普拉斯), also a Taiwanese film.

Huang picked up the best new director award, while the film also won best adapted screenplay, best original film score, best original film song and best cinematography.

"The Great Buddha +" is about a security guard named Pickle and his friend Belly Button who secretly watch the dash cam footage recorded in the car of Pickle's boss one day and discover the boss's dark secret. But they are afraid to expose the wrongdoing because they fear it will be hard to get anyone to pay attention to them.

Told from the perspective of Pickle and Belly Button, who collects recyclable materials, the satirical film shows the struggles of the underclass and exposes the corruption of politicians and the economically powerful.

Wu Nien-jen (吳念真), who chaired the Golden Horse jury this year, told reporters after the ceremony that the best feature film category was fiercely competitive, with the winner decided after three rounds of voting.

In the third and final round of the voting, "The Great Buddha +" lost to "The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful" by a 9-8 vote, Wu said.

Meanwhile, China's Tu Men (涂們) won the best leading actor award for his role as a bankrupt businessman in the film "Old Beast."

The best director award went to China's Vivian Qu (文晏) for the dark drama "Angels Wear White," which addresses the theme of child sexual assault.

Taiwan's Bamboo Chen (陳竹昇) took the best supporting actor award for portraying a transgender woman in the movie "Alifu, the Prince/ss."

The lifetime achievement award was presented to Taiwanese actress and producer Hsu Feng (徐楓), while Foley artist Hu Ding-yi (胡定一) was named the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year.

A complete list of winners at the 54th Golden Horse Awards is as follows:

[Best Feature Film] The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful/Yang Ya-che